You Have No Idea
by Ziva Lou
Summary: Hermione loves her son, she really does. After a fight and a hurtful question, though, she beings unraveling a mystery that has plagued her for years. T for future chapters. AU after Final Battle, plenty of Next Gen characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hooray, my first multi-chapter fic! Hope you all like it!**

**Disclaimer: Not Mine. Not even a little bit. (well, except for the plot…)**

**000**

Hermione was working her way steadily through a large pile of paperwork when the door opened and a familiar voice called to her.

"Mum! I'm home!"

She smiled and set her quill down before making her way into the kitchen, where she found her favorite redhead digging through cupboards, looking for a snack, as usual.

"I take it you had fun, then?" Hermione smiled, looking with amusement at his dirty clothes and delighted expression.

"It was great!" he confirmed, "We won!"

"Good job," Hermione grinned.

"I met a new guy today, too. His name's James and he fits in really well with the rest of us. Although, I have to admit," Jacob laughed slightly, "it is nice not being the only ginger among my friends, anymore!"

"Glad to see you're making new friends," Hermione commented as she started heading back down the hall. "What's he like?" she called over her shoulder.

"He's a great bloke," Jacob raised his voice to be heard. Hermione often worked on papers while holding conversations with her son, so he was unsurprised when she had continued talking while walking back to her desk. "Funny, too. You know what's weird, though?"

"What?"

"It's his hair!" Jacob came into her little office.

"I thought you said he's a redhead, too?"

"He is, and that's the weird part! His hair is the exact same color as mine!" Jacob shook his head in confusion and amusement, not noticing when his mother stiffened slightly. "I was standing next to him and one of the others made some crack about us being long-lost brothers, or something."

Hermione swallowed quietly. She forced herself to ask a question, trying to help the conversation along like she was fine. "Does he have any actual siblings?"

"A younger brother and sister. His brother, poor guy, is named _Albus_, of all things!" Jacob winced sympathetically. "We call him Al, though. His sister's name is Lily Luna, or something barmy like that."

"Albus? That's an interesting name." Hermione fought to keep the tremor out of her voice as she flipped through the papers covering her desk.

"Yeah, their parents must either hate them or have a thing for weird names. James and Al got in a little spat and we all learned the amusing fact that James's middle name is 'Serious' and Al's middle name is Severus." Jacob snorted as Hermione's fist clenched involuntarily.

"Al was there, I take it?"

Jacob nodded, though his mother didn't see it as her back was turned. "He showed up not long after James. He's a scrawny little thing, and he looks like he's about five years younger than James instead of two! They've both got this crazy, untamable hair thing going on, too, even though Al's got black hair, not red."

Hermione bit her lip. James and Al were starting to sound a bit too much like some people she didn't care to think of at the moment. Not to mention the names, James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. She didn't want to ask, oh, she _really_ didn't want to ask, but she just had to know.

"Did you catch their surname during all of this?"

"Yeah, it's Potter."

Jacob looked on with growing concern as his mum began to tremble. "Mum? You okay?"

"You are not to go near those boys or anyone else from their family again," Hermione said in a dangerous tone. She was so upset, her voice wasn't even shaking. "You hear me? Never again!"

"But, why –?" Jacob asked, confused and angry that she was trying to keep him from his new friends.

"Because," Hermione said shortly, "I don't want you hanging about with them."

"This is completely unfair! You've never even met them!"

"I don't need to!" Hermione snapped. "They sound just like Ha–" She caught herself before she actually said one of Their Names.

"Who, Mum? _Who_ do they sound like? Who was so horrible that anyone remotely resembling them is immediately off-limits?" Jacob's temper, inherited, she assumed, from her, was flaring.

"That is none of your business, young man!"

"And it's none of your business who I hang out with!"

"I beg to differ!" Hermione spun around and fixed her son with a hard look. "It most certainly is my business if my boy is –"

"I can make my own desicions, you know!" Jacob's eyes, usually a warm chocolate brown like her own, seemed to be spitting fire.

"And I reserve the right to _let_ you make your own decisions!" Hermione could feel her own temper and patience beginning to slide.

"Just because you made a few bad choices doesn't mean you have to prevent me from making any! And being friends with the Potters is _not_ a bad choice!"

That name, that name she had avoided for over fifteen years, hearing it come out of her son's mouth a second time finally pushed her over the edge.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ONE BAD DECISION COST ME!"

Jacob's eyes filled with anger, hurt, and shock. He knew exactly what she was talking about, even if she didn't mean it like he took it.

"You're right," he spat, "I have no idea what you gave up to raise me. But then, you have no idea who my father is, do you?" He stormed away.

Hermione Granger, single mother of a fifteen year old wizard, sat back down at her desk numbly.

Jacob was partially right. She _didn't _know who his father was.

All she did know, if hereditary hair colors were to be trusted, was that it was a Weasley.

So, she had _some_ idea of his father's identity, right?

Too bad she had severed all contact with the Wizarding World in general after finding out she was pregnant.


	2. Chapter 2

**No reviews? I know you're out there! The stats for this story are telling me that plenty of people have read it! So why aren't you reviewing? *sad face!***

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**Disclaimer: Still not mine…sigh…**

**000**

"Mum! Dad!" James called, "We're home!"

"Geroff me!" Albus growled from his uncomfortable position, trapped in a headlock by his older brother.

"You're father had to stay late at the office, today," the voice of their mum rang out from the kitchen, "James, let go of your brother. Did you make any new friends with the muggle boys?"

Releasing Al, James strolled into the kitchen, looking innocent. "Who said I was restraining Al?"

Ginny Potter sent a mild look at her oldest, daring him to push the limits.

"Okay, okay," he raised his hands in surrender, "Yes, we did meet some of the local kids, they all seem fine. I must say, though, it's nice not to be lost in a sea of redheads anymore."

"You mean you didn't like staying with Grandma and Grandpa?" Ginny smirked, thinking back to the riotous week they had spent at the Burrow, surrounded by Weasleys and red hair. Besides Ginny, Harry, and their three kids, Bill and Fleur and their three were in town, as were Percy, Audrey and their two girls, and George and Luna had stopped by almost every night for dinner with their twin boys.

"Don't get me wrong, I love our family, some of them just rub me the wrong way sometimes." James defended himself.

Ginny laughed. "I know Uncle Percy can be a bore, and I know Louis gets on your nerves, but they are family. Besides, you got lucky, being born first. Poor Lily and I are the youngest and only girls out of our brothers!"

"I still think it's hereditary, you know." Lily remarked, coming into the kitchen to join her mum and siblings. "And therefore, I blame Grandma."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Al snickered, "If she can raise six boys and one tricky girl, I'm sure she would have no qualms about jinxing her granddaughter."

"Who're you calling tricky, young man?" Ginny said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't recall ever convincing my older brothers that they had a bald spot so that they would cast a hair-growing charm on themselves and come downstairs looking like a bright red Demiguise."

Lily sniggered as James's ears turned red and Albus blushed slightly.

"So, those new friends," James said loudly, "Al and I found some muggle boys playing some sort of game in the park. The only point of the game seemed to be to tackle each other and pass a ball back and forth. Muggles," James shook his head and smiled, "think of the weirdest things. Anyways, we started talking to the winning team, and they all seemed to be good blokes."

"Oh? And who are these 'good blokes'?"

"I didn't catch every name," James shrugged.

Albus rolled his eyes. "There was one kid who stood out from the rest. I swear to Merlin that he has the Weasley hair. Some of the others even made a few jokes that he and James are long-lost brothers."

"Really?" Ginny looked intrigued. "What's his name?"

"Jacob, Jacob…Granger I think he said. Mum? Mum, are you okay?"

000

Hermione felt terrible. Jacob was angry with her, angrier than he had ever been before. And it was all because she was terrified that someone from her long-buried past would come knocking at her door. It was righteous anger, but Jacob didn't know that. No one but Hermione knew all the reasons behind her hasty departure so many years ago. She was the only one who knew why she had tried to vanish from the Wizarding community, why she had refused to send Jacob to Hogwarts, homeschooling him instead, and why she used glamour charms on both of them whenever they had to visit a Wizarding area such as Diagon Alley.

Lost in her thoughts, Hermione didn't hear the doorbell ring, nor did she hear when Jacob finally answered the door after a few minutes.

"Mum," he said shortly, coming into her office and jerking her out of her musings, "There's someone here for you." Without another word, he turned and left. Hermione sighed. How long would it take for him to defrost enough to talk to her normally again?

Entering the living room, Hermione felt her stomach plummet to the floor. Two horribly familiar people were seated on her couch, two people she had never wanted to see again, though technically she had never seen the black haired one before. Even as she froze in the doorway, the redheaded one jumped up.

"Hermione!" Ginny cried, "It _is_ you!" She desperately wanted to throw her arms around her long-lost friend, but something in the older witch's eye stopped Ginny.

"Ginny," Hermione said stiffly, jerking her head in an attempt at a friendly nod.

After a pause, Ginny spoke again. "This is Albus, my son. Harry –"

"Jacob told me about your children," Hermione cut her off, "James, Albus, and Lily."

Another few minutes passed in silence, before Ginny broke it again. "Hermione," she whispered, "Jacob's hair…is he…?"

"I don't think you should be here, Ginny," she said softly, but the hardness in her voice told how serious she was.

"Al," Ginny turned to her youngest boy, "D'you mind waiting outside for a few minutes?"

"Sure, Mum," Al shrugged, standing and moving towards the door. He paused at the threshold. "I grew up hearing stories about my dad, my Uncle Ron, and their best friend, Hermione. I always thought she sounded great, so smart and brave and a true friend…but now, I can't connect that image to the person who hurt my family so much when she left." Before either woman could say anything, Albus left the room.

"Is Jacob…?" Ginny started again.

Hermione silently cursed her old friend's stubbornness, knowing exactly what she was asking. "No, he isn't."

Ginny looked confused. "But, his hair…"

"Just because he has the same shade of red as Ron does not mean he's Jacob's father!" Hermione snapped.

"I never said anything about Ron."

"It was implied." Hermione replied stiffly.

Ginny sighed. "Hermione, it's been over fifteen years –"

"And?" Hermione said angrily, though she could feel the burn of tears in the back of her throat. "Do you expect me to tell you some sob story about how miserable my life has been since I left you and the rest of them? Because it hasn't. I have Jacob now, and that's all I need."

"There are people who care about you back home –"

"I hope you aren't talking about the Burrow, because that isn't my home," Hermione ignored the hurt look that flashed through Ginny's eyes, "This is my home, now, where Jacob is. Where I can teach him about magic and life and the lessons I learned through my own mistakes."

"Hermione –"

"_No_, Ginny." Hermione said forcefully. "I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm sticking to it. Now please, leave my house, and don't talk to my family."

"But, Hermione –"

"I mean it, Ginny."

Hermione's tone left no room for argument. Ginny stood and walked towards the door, pausing as her son had at the threshold.

"I was never asking if Ron was the father. I know he isn't. But there's something about Jacob that _does_ remind me of one my brothers. And, just so you know, that brother never gave up hope that you'd come back one day."

She exited the house and Hermione collapsed onto the couch, the tears she had been holding back finally making an appearance, even as her mind spun through the implications of Ginny's statement.

000

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